Sakura's Surprise
by Cherry268
Summary: How did Sakura become an S class criminal...and why is Itachi looking at her like that? How exactly did she get herself into this mess again?
1. Sakura's decision

Sakura stepped into the office and started cataloging missions for Tsunade-sama's review. Ever since she had become Lady Tsunade's apprentice, she had learned not only a vast number of techniques, but also what it really took to run Konoah. In her desire to save Sasuke, she had poured herself over every medical journal she could find in an attempt to find a way to save him, but she had yet to find a cure. Thankfully, they did have him stabilized, however, she was aware that it was a temporary solution at best. They were going to have to find a way to cure him soon.

For now, he was being kept in a medical coma, but every now and then they would find a new treatment and they would wake him from it. In these rare moments of consciousness, Sasuke would always ask Sakura to do things for him. He would ask her to carry out his dreams so that his goals would still be completed and his life would hold meaning; he would ask her to get revenge for his clan. It always hurt her to hear him ask these questions. It was like he was giving up on life, and she hated that. So, stubbornly, each time she would refuse. She would always tell him that she would find a way to cure him so that he could avenge his clan himself.

Sakura sighed and tried to shake herself from her thoughts in an attempt to focus them, but apparently she wasn't going to be getting any work done today. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Sasuke hadn't be so horribly injured back then. Perhaps they may have even gone on a date by now; maybe they would have even shared a kiss or two. If only Orochimaru hadn't tried to give Sasuke the cursed seal.

Honestly, if anyone deserved to die because of what they had done to Sasuke, it was him. The cold hearted bastard had disguised himself during their chunin exams so that he could get close enough to Sasuke to bite him and plant the cursed seal onto his body. Orochimaru wanted Sasuke's body because of his ability to use the Sharingan, but Orochimaru had always assumed that Sasuke's body was strong enough to survive; he had never taken into account that giving him the cursed seal would kill him.

Sakura slammed her fist down on her desk; she would definitely love to be the one who stole the life from that sadistic creep! She could think of many different jutsu that she would love to use on him. Her thoughts were interrupted by Lady Tsunade's very loud entrance into the office. Whenever Tsunade was upset, she would get like this; it made Sakura wonder what was weighing so heavily upon her sensei's mind. Tsunade-sama opened the drawer on the right side of her desk and pulled out a bottle of sake. That definitely signified that something was wrong; Lady Tsunade generally waited until much later in the afternoon before she would start drinking.

"Lady Tsunade, what has happened?" Sakura waited patiently for Tsunade-sama to turn her gaze to her. "Akatsuki members have been spotted heading in the direction of Konoah. From all reports, they have six of the Jinchuuriki. If they are coming to Konoah, there can be only one reason." Unfortunately, Sakura didn't need her to finish explaining it to her. She had been aware for some time now what the truth concerning Naruto was. Tsunade slammed her sake cup down on her desk. "We need a plan; bring Shikamaru here, we need to discuss strategy." Sakura bowed before leaving to find Shikamaru. "At once, Tsunade-sama."

Shikamaru was, as always, playing shogi with Asuma-sensei. "Shikamaru, Tsunade-sama has requested your presence immediately." The spiky-haired shinobi glanced in her direction before standing with a sigh. "How troublesome." They immediately set off for Tsunade-sama's office. When they got there, Sakura was mildly surprised to find the council members already in attendance. Tsunade-sama really didn't get along with the council, so it was a little odd for her to be seeking their advice on any situation. This, more than anything else, made Sakura realize how bad the situation was, and how worried Tsunade must be over the upcoming conflict.

The next few hours were spent contemplating what should be done about the approaching members of Akatsuki. Their timing was better than they could have hoped for considering that Naruto was absent from the village at this time. He had been sent out on a mission with Kakashi-sensei, Choji, and Hinata. There would be no risk of Naruto being captured, however it didn't mean that the Akatsuki threat would go away, so they had decided to try to use this opportunity to Konoah's advantage. After all, if they were lucky, they would be able to fend off this attack, but that only meant a delay before the next attempt. Eventually, they would come back again, and possibly with more members. Akatsuki had to be dealt with, and with as few casualties as possible.

"Tsunade-sama, Neji has confirmed the identities of the two Akatsuki members to be that of Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha." It may have been her imagination, but the council members almost looked relieved after the messenger had delivered the information. Personally, it made her even more tense. Itachi, the one person that Sasuke hated more than anyone else in the world. She had no doubt that if Sasuke was awake that he would try to kill him. Who was to say that by now he wouldn't have had a chance of defeating him?

It seemed like it was going to take forever for the council to agree to one of Shikamaru's plans. Every time he would throw out a course of action, they would give a new piece of information and reveal why that plan wouldn't work. The council seemed dead-set upon there being only one option, and Shikamaru didn't like it at all. "Sending someone to infiltrate Akatsuki is foolish!" Shikamaru was obviously frustrated by their lack of understanding; such outbursts rarely came out of Shikamaru, since they were too troublesome. "We only have a few people whose abilities could match that of one of the Akatsuki and we would need to provide a valid reason for them to be able to even attempt to be approached by them! This person would have to commit heinous crimes, and Akatsuki may never even contact them even after they had been committed! If we are trying to minimize the casualties, then this isn't an option!"

Everyone had bee silent after that. It was always hard to argue with Shikamaru's reasoning because he was always right. For a moment, nobody spoke, but when Sakura looked up again Tsunade was staring at her intently. "Then what about if we sent someone with less skill, but with a more believable motivation? Someone who wanted to gain powerful allies no matter who they were?" The council members seemed to both smile and nod their approval before Tsunade continued. "Shikamaru, if someone approached Akatsuki with a proposition to kill Orochimaru, would they take it?" Shikamaru scratched his chin, deep in thought, before answering. "That person would have to have a known reason for hating Orochimaru. It couldn't be just anyone; the person would have to have a personal grudge against him. It also couldn't be just anyone. This person would have to be someone that could improve Akatsuki's chances of killing him, but this person couldn't be someone that they would be threatened by. Your best chances would be to find someone who has more defensive ability than offensive; and that person would have to be smart enough to play the part convincingly." Everyone took a second to digest this information, but Shikamaru wasn't finished. "I still don't think it would be enough. There would be no reason for them to want to aid this person."

Again, the room was silent. "Unless, of course, we were able to provide a reason." Tsunade was looking at her again, and for some reason it was making her extremely uncomfortable. "Shikamaru, what are the odds that we would be able to separate Kisame and Itachi during this confrontation?" Shikamaru thought about it for a minute or so. "It would be troublesome, but we could do it." Once Shikamaru said that something was possible, there was no doubting that it could work. "Now, what are the odds of capturing one of them if they were separated?" For this, Shikamaru sat and closed his eyes in a position Sakura had seen him use many times before when he was working out a difficult problem. Apparently, he was going through different scenarios in his head. After only a few minutes, it appeared that he was finished. "It would have to be Kisame. It will take the combined efforts of Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka to pull it off. Guy-sensei and many others would be required to make Itachi retreat. It might be possible, if we could further control the conditions of the attack and have other precautions seen to beforehand." Tsunade immediately called for a messenger to gather the people Shikamaru had mentioned. "Tsunade-sama, all of this will be irrelevant without someone to play the main part of the mission."

If Tsunade heard Shikamaru, it didn't show. It took a moment before she turned around, and this time there was no mistaking that she was looking at her with very intent eyes. "Sakura, you have heard what the mission entails, can you handle it?" She hated being right. She was afraid that Tsunade had been watching her this whole time, and obviously she had been correct in her assessment. "What makes you think I can pull it off?" She needed to know how successful this could be before she allowed herself to get thrown into this mess. "Akatsuki knows that you were on a team with Sasuke. The last confrontation with Akatsuki also would have given them a glimpse of your loyalty to him. Your powers would be beneficial to their cause because you would be able to heal whatever injuries they might sustain. Your skills are more defensive than offensive, and while you are a powerful kunoichi, in a one on one fight Akatsuki would not fear you. You fit the role perfectly." Sakura took a deep breath and looked to Shikamaru, "Do you think I could pull this off?" He stood and sighed. "There are so many things that could go wrong after you approached them that would make this mission dangerous for you, but I do believe that based on what Tsunade has said that you have the best chance to approach them and infiltrate their group." For once, she almost wished that he had just smiled at her and said yes instead of giving her the absolute truth. "Alright Tsunade-sama, I'll get ready."

The first thing she did was pack. She couldn't take too much with her because it had to look like she thought about this plan on her own and at the last minute. She grabbed the essentials, but she couldn't help but bring along her stuffed bear. Maybe it was childish, but she'd had it ever since she was little and she still slept with it occasionally when she was upset or stressed. It would help her to feel less alone and remind her of home; so she threw it in the pack that she always used for her missions and threw in a book or two for good measure before turning out the lights and heading towards the hospital.

That lead her to the second thing she had to do before leaving; she needed to visit Sasuke. She thought back to all of the times that she'd sat by his side talking or reading to him; all the times she'd found some new technique that had a chance to cure him; and most importantly, all the times that she'd told him that she couldn't do what he'd asked of her. She grabbed his hand and bent forward to place a kiss on his forehead. "Don't worry Sasuke...I swear I'll avenge you." She could have sworn that before she left that Sasuke had squeezed her hand back.


	2. Infiltration

**Author's note: Hello all! This is my first ever attempt at writing fanfic and I hope that you all enjoyed the first chapter. I didn't put up an author's note on the first chapter because I honestly didn't know that I needed to. I'm still getting used to the site. I probably won't put in very many author's notes, but I decided I had probably add one in here just in case. I just wanted to say that while I love Naruto, I am not the creator of it. I am just borrowing the characters for my story. I hope you all enjoy this story! Without further interruption (I hope) here is the second chapter!**

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It took awhile for the plan to be fully explained to all the necessary participants. Everyone was being told that capturing Kisame was the priority. They even had Ibiki Morino summoned. They had informed him to prepare to "question" the prisoner. For her part, Sakura was given an official Konoah record to show to Kisame to get him to agree to take her along with him. They had received intelligence awhile back that Orochimaru was trying to locate the three-tails for himself...yet another reason for Akatsuki to get him "out of the picture". After being given the scroll, all she had to do was rest...she was pretty sure that she would need all of her strength for tonight.

Night had fallen. Thankfully, everything had gone according to Shikamaru's plans. She just hoped that the rest went as smoothly. Kisame was being held in their highest level holding cell and guarded heavily. She was thankful that they wouldn't be expecting an attack from one of their own. She was allowed entry under the guise of healing some of his wounds...apparently Ibiki had gotten a little carried away with his work. When she got to the room, she was able to perform a wide-spread genjutsu that put all of the guards in the surrounding area to sleep. That was when she awakened Kisame. She watched him as he took in the sight of the incapacitated guards. "What have we here? Don't tell me that you're here to help me." He wasn't nearly as threatening as injured as he was, but still, she could barely keep herself from trembling. She really hoped that this was going to work.

"I'm hoping we can help each other actually." She was actually rather proud of herself for how confident she sounded because she certainly didn't feel that way. "Ha! Why would I need your help?" He smirked at her even though the action only made his split lip crack open and bleed. "Just hear me out. My name is Sakura Haruno. I'm willing to let you out of here if you'll take me with you. I am the best healer in all of Konoah, with the exception of my sensei Lady Tsunade. I could be a valuable asset to you. All I want in return is for you to help me kill Orochimaru." He eyed her disdainfully before she continued. "I know that eventually your organization is going to have to rid themselves of Orochimaru..." "And just how do you know that?" Apparently, he wasn't going to make this easy for her.

She pulled out the scroll containing the intelligence that Tsunade had given her earlier and gave it to him. "Obviously because he will be getting in the way of your plans, although considering the fact that he used to be a member of your group himself, I'm sure you could think of many other reasons." She watched as he read the document and frowned. Apparently, Akatsuki hadn't learned of this information yet; at least that was something on her side. "Why would you want to go with us? Right now you're in your safe little village with nothing more to worry about..." "Than wanting to exact revenge upon the bastard that tried to kill Sasuke!" He wasn't the only one who could interrupt to get their point across. "I want to see him suffer. Konoah has had plenty of time to take him out, but have they? No. They sit around in fear afraid that if they attack him that it will leave their defense too weakened and that others will use that time of weakness to invade. They will never make him suffer the way that he deserves to. I don't care what it takes, I want to be there to see him die."

Maybe he believed her, or maybe he just planned on using her to escape; either way, he agreed to take her with him until the matter could be discussed further. She was very happy that she had learned how to use a teleportation jutsu. She may not have the largest range with it, but it would be able to lead them out of the city. She grabbed hold of Kisame and transported them to the edge of the town and immediately began treating his wounds. She was just about done was the last thought she had before she was pitched into darkness.

She was being carried; that was the first thing that she noticed. The second thing that she noticed was her horrible headache. Before she realized what she was doing, she groaned and raised her hand to her head. As a result, whomever was carrying her stopped. "Finally waking up are we?" She recognized that voice, it was Kisame, but when she went to look at him, she found that she still couldn't see. She felt it then, the blindfold. "We have explained the situation to the others, and they have agreed that we will let you live, provided you are as useful as you claim; however, you are still not to be trusted, so you can either volunteer to wear a blindfold until we reach our destination or you can be knocked out again." She didn't relish the idea of waking up with another headache, so she agreed to wearing the blindfold. Honestly, she didn't really have a choice where it was concerned. She wasn't too fond of the fact that she was immediately flung over someone's shoulder like a sack of potatoes; especially when Kisame laughed moments later, and the laughter didn't come from the person holding her.

After a few more hours of travel, they finally stopped for the night. It was a good thing too, because Sakura's ribs were getting sore from having Itachi's shoulder bumping into them every time he took a step. When they finally did remove her blindfold, they were in an old shack; or at least that was what it looked like from the inside. "Since one of us will have to keep an eye on her, I suppose it's up to me to get dinner." With that, Kisame was gone and she was left alone with Itachi.

For awhile, she just sat there, but every time she looked up he was watching her. "What?" She probably shouldn't have asked. She knew that he was just keeping an eye on her like Kisame had said, but did he have to stare at her like that? "I'm keeping an eye on you." She'd already known that. "Does that mean that you have to stare at me every second?" She glared at him when he didn't look away. Perhaps if she didn't think about him, she would be able to pretend he wasn't in the room with her. "You're scared." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. What was he doing talking to her anyhow? "I'm in the middle of nowhere with two psychopathic killers, what's there to be afraid of? Anyone would have to be insane to attack this place." It was a slightly comforting thought actually. At least the only things she had to worry about were the two men she was with.

The sudden movement caught her eye. He had been leaning against the wall moments ago, but now he was walking towards her. As if to prove his point, he kept getting closer and closer to her; and the closer he got to her, the more frightened she became. When he stopped directly in front of her, she closed her eyes. When she heard him place something down next to her, she glanced up in his direction. He was still watching her with the same red eyes, and he was bent over so close that she could feel his breath on her face. "You're right to be scared. Now that you're here, there is no escape. The only way you'll leave now is through your death; remember that. I hope that whatever motivated you to come on this fool journey, that the reasons were worth it." He reached out and put a finger underneath her chin. "I'd prove myself extremely helpful if I were you." He released his hold on her and went back across the room. When she happened to glace in his direction again, he was still watching her; she couldn't help it, she shivered. Thankfully, Kisame chose that moment to walk in with an armful of firewood. Itachi got up and started building a fire while Kisame went out to catch their dinner.

"Oh my, that's disgusting!" She had problems swallowing what was supposed to be her dinner. It had to be the worst thing she'd ever eaten! It was even worse than the one time that Kakashi-sensei had cooked for her group while they were out on a mission. "Look, I know that you both don't trust me, but next time if you want to follow me around while I get dinner, I can promise you that it will taste better than this!" Itachi just glared at her, but Kisame broke out into full-fledged laughter. "She doesn't seem to be a fan of your cooking skills Itachi!" Itachi's glare then shifted from her over to Kisame. "The only reason she's mocking my cooking skills is because yours are worse." It was hard for her to imagine anything tasting worse than this, but she didn't want Kisame to cook next time just so that she could find out. She was sorely tempted to pull out one of the soldier's pills in her pack just so that she could be spared eating this, but somehow she was able to suffer through it.

After dinner, she was instructed to sleep. It wouldn't be too hard to follow that order since she was so mentally drained; or at least that's what she had thought, but every time she opened her eyes he was still staring at her. She tried to ignore it, but after about an hour or so, she really couldn't take it. "Do you have to keep staring at me no matter what I'm doing?" Kisame had already started sleeping, so she didn't have to worry about him overhearing their conversation, but she didn't want to wake him either, so rather than yelling her question across the room like she had wanted to do, she managed to keep her voice at a reasonable volume. She couldn't help but gasp for breath when yet again, he walked towards her. "You say you hate Orochimaru for what he has done to my brother." She had officially lost the ability to speak. All she was able to do in response was to nod her head. "If that is the case," he squatted down in front of her, "then shouldn't you also hate me?"

Sakura was really hoping to avoid this interrogation until much later, but she should have known that it would happen sooner rather than later; it was just the way her luck seemed to turn. So, she took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "Firstly, just because I'm traveling with you doesn't mean that I have to like you. Secondly, what you did to him pales in comparison to what Orochimaru did to him. Thirdly, I have no hope of beating you one-on-one and you're hardly alone. Lastly, Sasuke wants to kill you himself, why would I steal that chance away from him?" For just a second, she thought she saw something in his eyes, but it had to be a trick of the dying fire light. Why would he be hurt by the idea of Sasuke hating him so much? She would have thought that he would leave her alone and finally allow her to go to sleep at this point; she should have known better. Instead of walking back across the room, he laid down not three feet from her! "What are you doing?" She couldn't believe that he was going to sleep so close to her. "Ensuring that you don't try to escape." That said, he closed his eyes and looked as if he had every intention of going to sleep.

For a minute, she simply stared at him. She'd never slept so close to a guy before! She had been nervous before with him watching her, but she was more so now. She was never going to get sleep this way. She turned her head to the other side of the room and looked at her pack; it was only an arms length away. She would feel much better with her little stuffed bear. However, she didn't exactly want to have to explain it to Mr. "I'm watching you" either. So, she waited. After a good bit of time had passed, she glanced over at both men. If the snoring was any indication, Kisame was still asleep. She looked at Itachi nervously. His face was turned away from her, but she watched his chest. It would rise and fall in deep even breaths; just like someone who was asleep. She bit her lip nervously, but decided that she really did need the comfort it would provide in order to get any rest. She reached out her hand and felt around in her pack until she had what she was searching for. As she was pulling the bear back, however, she suddenly found herself pinned down, with red eyes glowing brightly down at her in the faded light.


	3. Not what he seems

He had waited for her to make a move. If she was really sent here to kill him, then now would have been the best time to act. They were still within a days journey to Konoah, and they had both appeared to be sound asleep. He'd been expecting her to strike now. What he wasn't expecting, however, was what she'd pulled out of her bag. "What the hell is this?" He reached for the fluffy object and stared at it. It appeared to be a stuffed animal of some sort. She squirmed uncomfortably underneath him. "Well, that's...well, you see..." The pink haired kunoichi just stammered out little phrases without really answering him.

Kisame had searched her pack earlier while they were retrieving his sword, but he hadn't mentioned a teddy bear amongst her possessions! He'd mentioned the weapons, the medical vials, the change of clothing, but he hadn't mentioned one thing about the pile of fluff he was currently looking at. They had left all of her equipment alone, to determine if she would try anything, but this was definitely _**not**_ what he had expected when he'd noticed her reaching for her equipment. "Aren't you a little old for stuffed animals?" If she was around the same age as his brother, then she was only five or six years younger than he was; surely that was old enough to have outgrown stuffed animals.

The girl squirmed again drawing his attention to their rather awkward position. He removed his arm from under her throat and lifted his upper body so that now he was looking down at her. He was still straddling her so that if she made any sudden movements he could regain the upper hand easily, and he was going to have to check that bear. He squished the bear in his hands for a moment trying to feel if it contained anything inside it; a concealed weapon or poison perhaps. "What do you think you're doing!" The girl attempted to snatch the bear from his grasp. The movement surprised him, but it also just made him more suspicious. He pinned her down again; apparently, she didn't want him examining her bear too closely.

"Unless you enjoy being on top of the girl, you can release her. I already checked the bear when I checked the rest of her pack; it's clean." They both turned their heads towards Kisame; he was sitting up across the room watching them. When what he said registered, she must have blushed from her head down to her toes. Nobody had ever been so close to her before, and Kisame's joke about him being on top of her was bad enough, but now they _**both**_ knew that she slept with a teddy bear.

"You could have mentioned the damn bear before now Kisame!" He could literally strangle his partner for this. Kisame was always complaining about how he was always in control of everything and how he never showed his emotions. He was pretty sure he'd been more expressive today than he'd been in the past month or so! "So you do like being on top of her then? I've noticed that you haven't gotten off of her yet." He immediately released her and sat up. As soon as he did he was thrown the rest of the way off of her by a very red-faced kunoichi. Oh yes, Kisame would definitely pay for this.

Morning finally came and the trio packed up. Sakura was allowed to make their breakfast, and it was agreed upon that the meal was much better than the one from the previous night. Yet again, however, Sakura was blindfolded. "If you carry me like that while I have a full stomach, I will be sick. Kisame snorted and Itachi stopped. He must have thought better of it though because rather than throwing her over his shoulder as he had the last time, he grabbed her arms and placed them around his neck. "Hold on to me." He then scooped her into his arms and continued forward.

His arms had to be tired by now. They'd been traveling for hours now and he was still carrying her the same way he'd been when they started out this morning. Besides, she didn't like the way she was pressed up against him like this. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and her head was pressed against his chest; she could even hear his heart beating! Every now and then he would lift her up higher, as if she was in danger of falling, and every time he did it he squeezed her to him tightly. It was too intimate! It was almost as bad as being pinned down by him last night. Actually, she was pretty sure that this was worse! At least last night he'd only been close to her for a few minutes, not the few hours she'd been pressed up against him today. Plus, last night she'd been afraid, today as the hours passed, she'd been bored. She now knew the steady rhythm of his heart from the times she'd been pressed against his chest. She also knew what his hair smelled like from the times when he'd lifted her...she'd always end up at about neck level on him and each time she'd get a whiff of what his hair smelled like. She was pretty sure that by the time they finally decided to stop that she would smell like him. The worst part of it all, however, was that he smelled so nice! That, more than anything else, made her extremely uncomfortable. Add to that the fact that not once had she been afraid that he'd drop her each of those times when she'd been shifted in his arms and it was enough to make her want to knock herself upside the head with the nearest rock! She shouldn't _**like**_ being in his arms; she shouldn't feel safe in the arms of a murderer!

"We're getting close to our stop; you realize we'll have to take the blindfold off of her don't you?" Kisame looked over at his partner and the pink haired kunoichi. Itachi stopped and sat Sakura on a nearby log. "Sakura, I want you to keep your eyes closed. Do you understand?" She nodded and he removed the blindfold. "Please continue to keep them closed." She nodded again, but when he started to remove her shoe her eyes flew open of their own accord. "What are you doing!" He sighed and looked her in the eyes before continuing to remove her shoe. "I'm going to wrap your ankle so that it appears to any onlookers that you have sustained an injury. Then, I am going to carry you again, and I want you to keep your eyes closed and feign sleep until I say it's alright for you to open your eyes." Sakura closed her eyes and nodded her head yet again. "I understand."

He fully expected her to look around. Who wouldn't want to know their surroundings? However, true to her word she kept them closed. When they stopped at an inn and asked for a room, she even made some very convincing sleepy mumbles before turning her head into the crook of his neck and nuzzling the area. He was glad the action drew the innkeeper's gaze and that nobody was watching him. He couldn't be sure if he had kept his surprise hidden or not. When they reached the room, Kisame went off to run some errands, leaving the two of them alone again. "You can open your eyes now." He deposited her on the bed and she couldn't help but be embarrassed by that fact. He'd carried her the same way a groom would his bride, and now he sat her on a bed and they were alone. She knew nothing further would happen, but it was still enough to cause her face to become flushed.

"You're quite the little actress aren't you?" He didn't think it was possible, but she seemed to turn a deeper shade of pink than she already was. She finally turned and looked at him. "You told me to pretend that I was asleep. Isn't that what people do in their sleep?" He nodded and walked away from her. He waited until he heard her release her breath before questioning her. "Then why are you so pink?" She looked so embarrassed and so uncomfortable that he almost regretted asking; almost. It had been too long since he'd been able to tease someone for the simplest of things; and her reactions were too adorable for him to pass up the opportunity. She squirmed on the bed, a reaction he was beginning to equate to her being uncomfortable, and he couldn't help it; he laughed.

Big, bad, mean ol' Itachi was laughing at her. In fact, she was pretty sure he'd been teasing her just now. It was just like something Naruto would do! He made her uncomfortable on purpose! She'd die of embarrassment if he knew why she had been so uncomfortable. If it had been Naruto, she'd have pounded him into the ground by now, but this was Itachi. If she even attempted to hit him right now he'd probably make her sorry for it. So, she did the one thing she could think of that she could do in this situation...she threw a pillow at him. She allowed herself a self-satisfied smile when it landed on target.

She'd hit him in the face with a pillow! Nobody had done anything so childish in his presence since he'd left Konoah! To top it off, after he'd looked up from that she'd stuck her tongue out at him! It reminded him of his childhood days spent with Sasuke; happier times when he was just an older brother having fun with his sibling. However, just like with Sasuke, he couldn't allow something like this to happen without punishment. This meant war! She was definitely mistaken if she thought he wouldn't retaliate! He walked over to the bed, slowly; keeping his face void of any emotion. He could tell from her reaction that she was worried about what he was about to do. He waited until he was right next to her and, predictably, she closed her eyes. That was when he reared back and hit her with the pillow.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed so hard. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a pillow fight! It was probably when she was much younger; Ino had probably been involved. They had both called a truce and lay on the bed attempting to catch their breaths. One thing was for sure, Itachi was not what she was expecting him to be.

After a moment or two of silence, he finally began to question her again. She had been expecting it honestly; in fact she would have been surprised if he hadn't questioned her. Although, not all of this questions fit what she would have expected him to ask either. "You said you were doing this for my brother; what drew you to him in the first place?" That, for example, was on of the questions she didn't understand the relevance of. She figured, at least for this question, that honesty would be best; she didn't see how it would hurt. "He was my first crush. He was always so good at everything he did; plus he was always so quiet. I suppose that made him mysterious and exciting. Of course it didn't hurt that he was the cutest boy at the academy."

She smiled fondly at her childhood memories. "You speak as if this were a long time ago." She didn't quite understand why he was asking, but again she answered honestly. "It was. I started liking him not long after I started at the academy. We started at the same time and he eventually became my teammate. I learned more about him then, but then he..." She didn't want to go into details about Orochimaru and what he'd done to Sasuke. "He's still in Konoah you know. We were able to get him stabilized. He's spoken to me a few times, but he's never out of the coma for long. He hasn't changed much either. If anything, he's become more handsome as he's gotten older." It was true too. In fact, even though he'd lost some muscle from being in the coma for so long, he was still an extremely attractive guy.

"So you're in love with him then?" Sakura answered reflexively. "Love is such a strong word!" Thankfully, she was spared any further questioning by the knock on the door. Stupid Sakura! Of course she was supposed to say that she was in love with Sasuke! Why else would she be here unless she loved him enough to sacrifice her own life to kill Orochimaru! It didn't matter how she truly felt, she had to portray a young woman in love! She couldn't slip up like that again. Hopefully, he'd just take her outburst for modesty and not question it further.


	4. Wanted

**Hello everyone! I wanted to apologize for not updating this sooner. I have more of the story written out, but I'm always changing little things and trying to make it the best it can be. Reading back over the first few chapters I found errors (like I forgot the n at the end of been in one of the chapters) that I'll try to go back and fix as soon as I can. I just wanted to let everyone know that I'll try to update as soon as I can...although admittedly, reviews will definitely speed up the process! It's easier to put my work out here if I have some feedback! I also wanted to explain that this is rated M for later chapters...I didn't want to have to change the rating half-way through. Sorry for having such a long note here. Okay...back to the story!**

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"Sakura, come here." She had figured the person at the door was Kisame back from his errands, but apparently not. She didn't recognize any of them either. The leader of the six men outside the door smiled, "Yes, there she is. Sakura, how wonderful it is to see you!" She wracked her brain for more information. Did Lady Tsunade send him to give her a message? Surely if that were the case she would have sent someone she knew; and how would they have known how to find her in the first place. She didn't even know where she was, so how could Tsunade know where she would be?

"May we have a word; privately? The man glanced in Itachi's direction; he was still standing behind her. Itachi came even closer behind her. "No." The leader of their little group didn't seem too happy to hear that. Obviously, whatever these men had to say they didn't want to say it in front of him. "What are you, her lover or something? Why should you care if we speak to her alone or not?" She blushed at the mention of him being her lover, but Itachi didn't move away. "What if I said I was her lover? What would you say then?" As if to prove his point he bent down, pushed her hair to the side, and kissed her neck. You could have knocked her down with a feather she was so shocked! Having his warm lips upon her skin made her shiver; she told herself it was because she was so repulsed at having him so near. It took all of her control not to turn around and deck him. Nobody had ever kissed her before and she wasn't about to stand here and let him start kissing her wherever he pleased just because he was wanting to show off his power to a bunch of strange men!

The action seemed to make the men think for a moment, but eventually the leader tried again. "I highly doubt you're really her lover. She's only recently left Konoah; there wouldn't haven been enough time for her to enter into a relationship." So they knew that she was from Konoah. How is it that she didn't know a thing about these men, but they seemed to know so much about her? She was about to comment on it when she noticed one of the men in the back start to breath heavy. She glanced at Itachi to see if he'd done anything that may have frightened them. He did have the sharingan activated, but surely that couldn't be what was upsetting the man. If that were the case then they should all be frightened.

"Boss, maybe we should just go." He sounded anxious, but their leader just ignored him. "Nonsense you fool! We came here for a reason, remember?" The nervous man pulled on their leader's sleeve to get his attention, but he paid him no heed. "But boss, you don't understand!" He had moved enough so that now she could see that he had a book in his hands. Obviously, whatever had upset him was something in that book. Understanding started to take root in Sakura's mind; she was pretty sure she understood now what was so alarming to the man. "Understand what you nitwit?" The leader turned his head, but instead had the book shoved into his face. When he saw what the other man had been trying to tell him, his coloring turned an unhealthy shade and he swallowed audibly. "I...I...I...Itachi! Let's get the hell out of here!" With that, they all took off running, but in their haste, they managed to drop the book.

Itachi bent down to retrieve it and flipped a few pages before handing it to her. "Congratulations Sakura; you're officially a wanted criminal." She'd been afraid of that. Kakashi had carried a book similar to this around with him. It was a book that held information on criminals that countries wanted brought in...dead or alive. Kakashi had called it a bingo book; and apparently, Sakura had already been added to it.

Itachi had watched her reaction with interest. He could tell that she was upset by what she saw, and yet she had to have expected it. She had released an S-rank criminal and had thereby become a criminal herself. She had to have known that what she did was considered a betrayal to Konoah and that they would seek retribution, yet she looked hurt by the fact that they had listed her amongst their missing-nin. Unfortunately, it was now something that she would have to live with for the rest of her life. It may have seemed like the best course of action at the time, but right now she was probably thinking about all of the repercussions that her actions meant for her.

He had thought along similar lines after killing so many of his clansmen. The actions you took, no matter how right they seem at the time, always hurt worse when they could no longer be changed. He knew what she must be thinking. She was thinking that she would never see her mother again and wondering what her mother thought of her right now. She was thinking that she would never see her friends. She was thinking that no matter how skilled she became as a medic, that now she would never get the chance to heal Sasuke.

Sakura was more than a little hurt by the information staring her in the face. Why would they publicize her crimes? Tsunade-sama could have covered it easily if she had tried. Tsunade could have said that Kisame must have gained the upper hand while Sakura had been healing him and surmised that she had been forced to knock everyone out against her will. She could have said that she was kidnapped! Why would she purposefully make her out to be the bad guy? What would all of her friends think? What would her mother think? One thing was for sure, when she got back from this mission, she was going to punch whomever suggested this course of action in the face...and she wouldn't hold back.

Kisame came back with food for all and Itachi had tossed him the bingo book. "Well, well, well...congratulations kid! You're not quite an S-rank criminal yet, but it looks like you're on your way quick enough! It's always more interesting when someone else wants you dead!" The shark-man smiled a huge smile in her direction and she wasn't sure if she should be disgusted or laugh. He didn't seem to expect any sort of reaction from her though, so apparently it didn't matter one way or the other.

She didn't understand why they were waiting here at the hotel, but that's exactly what they were doing. Kisame was really starting to get on her nerves, but then again she supposed she should have expected it. In a way, it was like he was testing her personality. She was pretty sure that she came off as a stupid girl who had never done a disloyal thing in her life. She supposed that it was a pretty accurate description, however, she needed to give off the personality of someone that was dead-set on revenge. She realized this, but it didn't make it any easier. It just wasn't in her to attempt to be someone that she wasn't. She couldn't pretend to relish the idea of being a wanted criminal. She couldn't pretend that murdering innocent people was fun. She couldn't pretend to be the monster that she knew each and every member of Akatsuki was.

Itachi was getting bored with Kisame's way of dealing with the girl. He knew that he was only doing what had been decided upon by the others, but it was still annoying him. The girl probably thought that she would travel with them until it was time to kill Orochimaru, but things were never so simple. Orochimaru had gathered up many talented shinobi and wouldn't be easy to take down; even for their group. Honestly, the man had never been anything more than an annoyance to them and they had planned on leaving him alone. That was until Sakura had shown Kisame that scroll. He had almost doubted the validity of the information until he'd seen the scroll for himself.

That didn't mean that they could just ignore their other plans though. They were still going to have to continue on with their plans. It was probably too dangerous to attempt to capture the kyuubi with her present, but that didn't mean that she couldn't assist them on other missions. Sakura probably didn't realize this, but they were going to be testing her. One of two things were in store for her; she'd either become a loyal member or she'd be killed. He hoped, for her sake, that she caught on quickly.

Kisame had started questioning her. This time, it was a real interrogation instead of the small question and answer sessions they'd previously had. She knew that this session was going to be important and that her answers needed to be flawless. There was no telling what would happen if they thought that she was useless or if they were able to catch on to what she was really up to. About halfway through her interrogation, or at least she hoped it was the halfway point, Itachi whispered something to Kisame and left. She didn't quite understand the significance of this, but it made her a little more relaxed. Kisame, unfortunately, picked up on this.

"You're not comfortable with him are you?" Crap. How was she going to explain that? Saying that she was comfortable would just be a lie and at this point she was pretty sure that they both knew the truth of the matter. "No, I'm not." Since there was no point lying about it, she might as well attempt to make the best out of it. "Why?" She glared at him and he smiled that full set of shark teeth at her. "Let me guess, it has to deal with Sasuke?"

She didn't answer him at first, she just looked away. He'd answered his own question to his own satisfaction. However, it wasn't really true. She wasn't comfortable with him because he'd murdered his entire clan for no apparent reason! He had to be mentally unstable to do something like that; as did the rest of the members if they'd all done something similar to join this little group. Sure, they were all evil, but she actually _**knew**_ what Itachi had done to gain entrance while the other members were more vague. She didn't know what Kisame had done and so she wasn't as afraid of him. Honestly though, when she thought about it that way it almost seemed like Itachi should be the one member she should be the least afraid of. At least she knew what he'd done; the others could all be far worse in comparison. She frowned at the thought. Did it really matter? Shouldn't she hate them all equally?

"Tell me, if you could kill him, would you do it?" Her gaze flew back to Kisame. She contemplated what she should tell him, but again the best conclusion that she could come to was the truth; or at least a partial truth. She wanted to lie as little as possible to any of these people; getting caught in a lie would surely be bad for her health. "I wouldn't want to take the pleasure from Sasuke." If at all possible, his smile widened. Perhaps it was her tone of voice, perhaps it was the look in her eyes, but for some reason it seemed like her reason for not wanting to kill Itachi made him accept her more. In a way, she could reason that out in her head. Her statement insinuated that she wouldn't mind if he died, but that it wouldn't be by her own hand. Among killers, that was probably the best that any of them could hope for.

Itachi eventually came back with food and whispered something into Kisame's ear. Kisame smiled, nodded his head, and started eating. Slowly, Itachi made his way over to where she was and handed her some food before turning away to sit and eat his own. Since they obviously weren't going to tell her anything, she shrugged and ate her food. She supposed that they'd let her know soon enough.


End file.
